NEW METHODOLOGICAL MATERIAL FOR EDUCATION ON TAX AWARENESS IN LITHUANIA

Raising taxpayer awareness is a challenge that the whole Europe is facing. Lithuania is no exception. Taxes are an area that is very overgrown with stereotypes and prejudices. “What is the benefit of taxes for me?" is a question frequently asked by the citizens and all you have to do is keep quiet because it is clear from the tone of the question itself that no arguments will work here. The person already has his opinion, and has had it for a long time since his parents told him that taxes are a “tribute to the state.”

This example not only shows the importance of awareness-raising, it also reveals two important aspects: the first one is that we rise up against stereotypes and deep, negative attitudes, similar to the idea that all athletes are stupid; the second one is that these attitudes are formed during childhood, so the main educational activity must be aimed at young people, without forgetting adults.

In order to find suitable methodological material, the State Tax Inspectorate (hereinafter - STI) together with Vilnius University conducted large-scale research. The aim was to find out what children know about taxes and what their attitudes towards taxes are. The study lasted from 2016 to 2019. Almost 2.000 students from the age of 7 to 17 participated in the research and were divided into three groups according to their age. Various measures were used during the research: (direct intervention) presentation or a lesson on taxes, (indirect intervention) games, cartoons, examination of situations, which reflect that non-payment of taxes causes significant harm and the payment of taxes brings benefits to society. It should be noted that knowledge of taxes has improved after direct intervention, while attitudes towards taxes have changed regardless of form. The most positive approach to taxes was driven by the emphasis on negative consequences.

First of all, the STI started to prepare methodological material for young people. There are many challenges here because young people are very receptive to innovation and each new generation is already different from the previous one, so we need to be very modern in order to reach young minds. The simplest measure to use - presentations. Children are familiar with them since primary school and easily accept and understand the material presented. In fact, a good, illustrative and interesting presentation can be the best measure and there is no need to “reinvent the wheel”. However, no matter how good the presentation is, it is unable to keep the attention of the primary school children throughout the lesson, although for high school students, the presentation may be exactly what is needed. So, it is quite natural that we have grouped all the methodological material into groups according to classes: Students of 2-4, 5-8, 9-12 classes.

Most of the new measures were developed specifically for primary school children. In addition to the usual measures such as educational videos, it is worth mentioning the simulation game. This is a kind of situation where children are invited to speak. For example, it tells how children in the yard played football and one of them got injured. The children called an ambulance, but it did not come. Children are explained why an ambulance can come in general and what charges are imposed here. Another measure - a drawing competition. The children are told that a lot of money has been raised in the budget and that something can be done for the benefit of all, and their task is to draw what can be done using the money.
In addition, we plan to acquire representative long-term impact measures such as “connect the dots” books and colouring books. These are books where the payment of taxes will be depicted in beautiful images and will create positive associations. It is a more like a representative measure. The lecturer would take the books as gifts for the children at schools. The child will use the colouring book at home for a week or more and thus will develop positive associations with the payment of taxes.

A group of pro-gymnasium students are young people who have something to say on various topics. We divide their lesson into two parts. The first is informational. During it, we show a presentation or a video from the TAXEDU website (this website contains a lot of amazing material in all EU languages). In the second part, we use the “discussion club” or “mindfight” measure to select topics and questions according to age. The "mindfight" can be particularly suitable and can be used in two ways. Sometimes a lecturer can ask an interesting question and then gives an interesting answer. At the same time conveying a certain message to the children. In other cases, we present the necessary information during the presentation, and during the “mindfight”, questions are asked from the set topic, thus better consolidating the knowledge.

Gymnasium students are another completely different category. Part of the seniors are already earning money and when the lecturer talks about taxes, he talks directly about the lives of those students. Such young people often have specific questions, “How much to pay?”, “To whom?” and “When and how to declare?”. We are not just talking about the benefit of taxes to society. We show what harm he does personally if he receives his salary in an “envelope”, what the circumstances would be if he became ill or if he wanted to use leasing services. While communicating with gymnasium students, the “discussion club” becomes not only a discussion but also a consultation.

This is even stronger in the student group. Before discussing with the students, it is important to keep in mind that we divide this group into two more categories: tax students and others. Tax students are students studying tax law. They are interested in all taxes, their benefits, exemptions, calculations, declarations etc. Other students, these are those who study things like business management and taxes are interesting to them only from a practical point of view. Therefore, the discussion can be, “Which is better - a limited liability company or a small partnership?” Which form of activity is more favourable when talking about the taxes and in which cases? They may also be interested in how individual activity differs from a business certificate. Thus, methodological material is not much-needed in this group, the lecturer needs knowledge to answer the questions that arise.

You may have noticed that the measures discussed above are adapted to work in schools. Meanwhile, the STI looks at everything more broadly and wants to reach young people outside the school. Of course, the main place where young people spend their time is on various smart devices, so we need to be there too and be interesting to the children in order for them to devote at least part of their time to us. For this reason we came up with a game “fight the shadow economy”. Most games related to taxes are prepared according to the principle of question-answer, but we looked at it completely differently. We would like to create a dynamic, engaging game that will give children a good time, while at the same time will break down prejudices and stereotypes about taxes (hopefully we will be able to prepare another article about this game).

In addition to school activities, we have another measure, which has already become traditional - a quiz for students, “Taxes come back to everyone”. The quiz has a large number of participants (over 201 teams from all over Lithuania registered in 2019) and prizes that are attractive to young people. The organizers of the quiz try to reach the most remote places in Lithuania, so the game is first organized online for the whole country and then the strongest teams are selected at the regional level. The country is divided into five counties and a regional final takes place in each of them. The third stage is the grand final, which takes place in Vilnius. The winners from all five counties attend it. All finalists are awarded, prizes are of different value: from headphones to smartphones or tablets.

Another very important activity in educating young people is inter-institutional cooperation. STI together with “Sodra”, Bank of Lithuania, Junior Achievement and other partners prepare material for educational institutions. In Lithuania, the aim is to promote financial literacy, and the goal of the STI is that children not only learn to earn money, but also do not forget about the taxes.

In conclusion, I would like to add another argument, which is influenced by the fact that many people have experienced it personally or at least heard a lot about it. I am talking about business assistance during a pandemic, when many businesses and individual traders approached the state for help. The state could help only because people and businesses paid / are paying taxes. This argument is not a stand-alone measure, but such a message must be spread as widely as possible, both to young people and to adults. I think this is a strong argument that we could use for many years to come, I invite you to do so.